New Titles / CUNY Authors

February 9, 2014

Mayors Take Control

If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities, by political theorist Benjamin Barber, provides a provocative and original look at how some mayors are responding to transnational problems more effectively than nation-states mired in ideological infighting and sovereign rivalries. More than a dozen mayors from around the world were interviewed by Barber, a senior research scholar at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at the Graduate Center.Yale University Press

Bartlett’s Black Quotations

Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases and Proverbs from Voices Around the World, edited by Retha Powers, is a compilation of more than 5,000 years of quotations attributed to black people from Ancient Egypt up to the present day. This volume — the first-of-its-kind catalog — paints a rich canvas of black history through time. Powers is acting assistant director of City College’s publishing certificate program.Little, Brown and Co.

Exploring Unexplored NYC

In The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City, William Helmreich invites readers to visit largely unexplored neighbor-hoods throughout the five boroughs. Following a game that he enjoyed with his father growing up, Helmreich goes to unfamiliar places and meets many only-in-New York characters along the way. A professor of sociology at Graduate Center and City College, Helmreich goes beyond the melting pot in his detailed, entertaining book.Princeton University Press

Troubled Ireland Memories

The Irish Examiner USA called this collection of stories “beautifully written shocks of insight and cruelty.” In As Close As You’ll Ever Be, Seamus Scanlon draws from his childhood memories growing up in Galway to capture the tension in Ireland’s history of internal violence. The book was named one of the Best Short Story Collections by the Library Journal. Scanlon is an associate professor and librarian at City College’s Center for Worker Education.Cairn Press

Shirley Chisholm’s Story

This biography of trailblazer Shirley Chisholm profiles the African-American woman elected to Congress in 1968. Shirley Chisholm: Catalyst for Change, by Barbara Winslow, is a fascinating portrait of one woman’s political ascent focusing on lifelong advocacy for fair treatment, access to education and equal pay for all. A historian, Winslow is a professor of history who teaches in the School of Education and the Women’s Studies Program at Brooklyn College.Westview Press